Extracellular Enzymatic Activities of Endophytic Fungi Isolated from Various Medicinal Plants

The term endophyte (Greek: endo = within + phyte=plant) include all organism that during a variable period of their life colonies the living internal tissues of their hosts. Endophytic fungi are one among these endophytes living inside the plants without causing any apparent symptoms [1]. Nearly one million endophytic species present ubiquitously in all plants [2]. The Bary mentioned term endophytes for first time in 19 th century [3]. Endophytic fungus was first identified by Freeman in 1904, and was isolated from Lolium persicum (Persian darnel) [4]. Endophytic fungi are relatively unexplored producers of metabolites useful to pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. A single endophyte produce several bioactive metabolites. As a result, the role of endophytes in production of various natural products with greater bioactivity have received increased attention [5]. Endophytes can influence soil stability directly by their mycelia networks in the soil as well as indirectly altering roots and physical conditions of the host plants[6] and also endophytes are the chemical International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 4 Number 3 (2015) pp. 1035-1042 http://www.ijcmas.com